I haven't yet posted much on this forum yet, so this is me getting more involved. I was invited to the Gudvangen Viking market this year, and asked if I would run leatherworking courses which I just couldn't pass up on

The market is held every July in the centre of Gudvangen, which is in the heart of norway 3 hours east of Bergen City. Luckily I have friends who have a farm 20 minutes away in Flåm, so I arranged to stay with them and help out on the farm when I had the time either side of the market. This worked out perfectly as it meant I could buy a new viking stall tent and ship it to them rather than lugging it through the airport.

So in early July I flew out with SWMBO and we headed over to the farm in Flåm. I spent the couple of days we had before the market crafting a viking frame for my new tent, and making tables and benches for my stall. I made the prototype frame from seasoned larch that had been cut and seasoned before I was born. The benches were made from a recently felled tree, sawn into four plans in Terjes own sawmill. The rest was done with a chainsaw to make basic legs which the seat could slot into. The table was a hastily knocked up solid board planed and sanded down, with interlocked legs which werent finished nicely as I ran out of time but it did the job

Finally, it was market time! It was a fast-paced week full of meeting people, learning, and teaching. There was 3 tv crews out filming for various television channels throughout the week, viking wrestling (glima), plenty of great viking music, food, there was hugnarian horse archery, storytelling, blacksmithing, woodcarving, leatherworking (of course ) and loads more. I had an insanely busy week trading/selling, and running courses every day. I was teaching my students how to make belt pouches and arm guards mostly, and one lady who wanted to make a reindeer skin dress which was a lot of fun. SWMBO was also selling her needle felted wool viking ladies, which ended up bringing a crowd of viking children around our tent every morning which was a real joy

Enough blabbing, here's some pictures.

Bench making the day before the market. [url="https://flic.kr/p/wtVLLS"][/url][url="https://flic.kr/p/wtVLLS"]HalfGoat Gudvangen Viking Market 13.07.15 1[/url] by [url="https://www.flickr.com/photos/111962784@N02/"]Hamish Odinson[/url], on Flickr

Made by one of my students (with help from her kids bless)[url="https://flic.kr/p/wwc1yi"][/url][url="https://flic.kr/p/wwc1yi"]HalfGoat Gudvangen Viking Market 16.07.15 9[/url] by [url="https://www.flickr.com/photos/111962784@N02/"]Hamish Odinson[/url], on Flickr

Sporran pouch made by one of my students[url="https://flic.kr/p/weFZ3a"][/url][url="https://flic.kr/p/weFZ3a"]HalfGoat Gudvangen Viking Market 16.07.15 12[/url] by [url="https://www.flickr.com/photos/111962784@N02/"]Hamish Odinson[/url], on Flickr

Made myself a new apron[url="https://flic.kr/p/wtUqdQ"][/url][url="https://flic.kr/p/wtUqdQ"]HalfGoat Gudvangen Viking Market 17.07.15 6[/url] by [url="https://www.flickr.com/photos/111962784@N02/"]Hamish Odinson[/url], on Flickr